Someone's Daughter
by morgan1
Summary: Wesley and Kate have a late-night encounter (another of my mushy, romantic Wesley fics...)


Rating: R (or 15 if you're in the UK) for sexual references.   
Author: Mary-Jane Roebuck  
Disclaimer: The characters belong to Joss, the WB, Mutant Enemy and 20th Century Fox. The interpretation of the characters is entirely my own.   
Feedback:  
Feedback is much appreciated, though please try and keep it constructive. I've never written Kate in much detail before, so any feedback on that particular aspect would be much appreciated. I know this is a bit dialogue-heavy, but bear with it. I thought it was time that someone tried to explain the whole vamp thing to Kate.  
Oh, and anti-Wesley or anti-Kate flames will be ignored, so don't bother. If you don't like the characters, or the idea of them as a couple, please don't read the fic.  
Spoilers: This fic is set several weeks after the events of 'To Shanshu in LA' and so contains spoilers for the whole of 'Angel' season 1.   
Notes: This fic takes its title from and features the Beth Orton song 'Someone's Daughter', which is available on the album 'Trailer Park'. You can find the lyrics at the Beth-le-hem site: http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Arena/4449/lyrics_tp.html#tp9

*******************************

As Wesley examined the corpse of yet another demon, he wondered why he only ever seemed to encounter the species which left corrosive slime all over the place when they expired. There were several hundred other places he'd sooner have been at that point in time, most notably at home with a mug of cocoa.

His reverie was interrupted by a woman's voice. It didn't sound too happy. 

"Okay, step away from the body." 

Wesley recognised the blonde detective with a start. She was pointing a gun at his head, but he tried not to take it personally. She probably did the same to everyone she found standing over a dead body in a dark alley. 

"Detective Lockley? What are you doing here?" 

" I could ask you the same question." 

There was a pause while she took in the scene. Wesley had to admit that the fact he was standing over the body wearing rubber gloves and holding a small test tube probably looked somewhat .. odd. "Hey, you're that guy who hangs round with Angel, aren't you?" 

"That's roughly my job description, yes." 

"It's Wesley, isn't it?" 

"Guilty as charged." It occurred to Wesley that this probably wasn't the best thing he could have said while in close proximity to a dead body in a somewhat suspicious-looking situation, but the detective didn't appear to have noticed his faux pas.

Kate bent down to take a closer look at the body.

"It's not human, is it?" 

Wesley smiled. "Ten out of ten for observation. So, Detective Lockley, why exactly is this of interest to you?" 

"I .. heard a report of a disturbance and I thought I'd better investigate. What's your excuse?" 

"I was in the area and I heard screaming and so naturally…" 

"So Angel didn't send you?" 

Angel hadn't talked about his last encounter with Kate in too much detail, but Wesley gathered that they hadn't parted on good terms.

"No, I haven't seen him for several days. He's working on a case in Phoenix." 

"Oh." She finished examining the body and turned to face Wesley. "This demon died of natural causes, didn't it?"

"If you'd have allowed me to get a word in edgeways, I might have been able to inform you that the Liki or 'Screamer' demon lets out a blood-curdling scream as it expires. This is a very interesting specimen. It's most unusual to find one in an urban environment." Wesley could see that Kate found his ramblings less than riveting, but with Angel away, there was no-one else with whom he could share his excitement. It was at times like this that he began to miss the Council.. 

She stared at him with a mixture of cynicism and weariness. "Is that so?" 

"Detective Lockley, I'm not in the habit of lying to police officers." 

"If I had a dollar for every time I'd heard that sentence, I wouldn't be here, I'd be on a beach in Hawaii with Keanu Reeves." She continued examining the demon. There were no signs of a struggle or any external injuries, and if anything it looked rather peaceful. Wesley appeared to be right about the demon dying from natural causes. Since she didn't have the energy to make an arrest at this moment in time, this came as something of a relief. 

"Well, there doesn't seem to be anything suspicious and the rest of the department think I'm crazy enough already, so it looks like my work here is done. Thanks for the lecture. Screamer demons, huh? I guess they have a demon for every occasion." She headed back towards her car. 

Much to his surprise, Wesley found himself chasing after her. "Detective Lockley .. Kate.. I was wondering…" 

"What were you wondering?" 

"Would you like to have a cup of coffee with me?" For a moment, Kate stared at Wesley as though he were a new and exotic variety of demon. Then she smiled. 

"Oh, what the hell. It's 2am and I could do with some caffeine. There's an all-night place just round the corner" 

Wesley was still amazed at his boldness. He didn't know what on earth had come over him. 

***************************************

  
  


"Coffee, black, two sugars", Wesley mumbled to the girl behind the counter at the coffee shop. He turned to Kate, who was looking at him with considerable amusement. "Don't say it." 

"Don't say what?" she asked, somewhat bemused.

"You were about to say "You're English, you're supposed to be drinking tea, et cetera, et cetera", weren't you? Well, sometimes, Earl Grey just isn't enough." 

"No, I was about to say what a coincidence it is that we take our coffee the same way." 

"Oh." Wesley smiled and turned to the assistant again. "Same again, please."

They took their coffees and sat in a quiet corner of the shop. There was an awkward pause. Neither of them knew where to begin. Wesley wondered what on earth he could ask her. He hardly felt that "Having any luck in your quest to rid LA of people like my boss?" would be a suitable opening gambit.

  
  


Kate was equally stuck for words. She'd never talked to the man for more than two minutes at a time before, and here they were having coffee like old friends. She suspected that he'd asked her to come with him out of his olde-English sense of chivalry. Well, she thought, at least he's got manners. That's more than I can say for most of the men in LA. Spend the night with them and they can't even be bothered to call you. Or you call them and their wife picks up the phone and you spend weeks feeling like a stupid slut. 

  
  


Wesley was the first to break the silence. "I was sorry to hear about your father." 

Kate had to force herself to reply. "So was I." 

Wesley felt he had to say something more. "It wasn't Angel's fault, you know. He told me about what happened and I think .. he did everything he could." 

"Spare me the sob story." Kate felt bad for snapping at Wesley this way, but it was the end of a long night and she didn't need to drag up the pain and grief all over again.

"Angel didn't kill your father." 

"So he said." 

"He doesn't kill people any more." 

"Unless he's hungry, is that the deal?" 

"Didn't he ever explain his .. circumstances to you?"

Kate lit a cigarette. "I think he'd sooner spend his time striding around LA in his leather trenchcoat, looking anguished. Angel isn't big on communication, is he?" 

You can say that again, thought Wesley. It had taken him weeks to get Angel to tell him even the most basic details concerning Faith's rampage in Sunnydale The problem with working for Angel was that he didn't realise that mortals don't have all eternity to wait around for an explanation.

"Well, it's somewhat .. complicated." 

Kate sighed. "Well, that seems to be par for the course where Angel's concerned. Fire away." 

Wesley took a deep breath. This wasn't going to be easy. Sometimes he had a hard time believing that he was working for a vampire himself. And if his family were ever to find out… 

"Ever since I can remember, I've known about vampires, and demons and the general.. forces of darkness. I've studied all of the extant texts. I don't go anywhere without a crucifix. You could say I've dedicated my life to fighting against the evil that vampires do." 

Kate took another drag on her cigarette and stared at Wesley with considerable cynicism. 

"So, why the sudden change of heart?" 

"Angel's a special case." 

"So I keep hearing." 

"Your ordinary, common-or-garden vampire doesn't have a soul. That means that they have no conscience. Just desires. Hungers. Until just under a hundred years ago, Angel was exactly like that." 

"So, what happened? Did he join Bloodsuckers Anonymous?"

"He killed a gypsy girl. The most beloved of her tribe. Understandably, her tribe weren't too happy about this." 

"So?" 

"So they decided to make Angel suffer the worst thing that a vampire could suffer." 

"They cut off his blood supply?" 

"They restored his soul."

"And his conscience?" 

"And his conscience. Angel remembers everything he did while he was a vampire. All the people he killed. All of those who begged him for mercy. Imagine knowing that you've killed hundreds of people. And that you did so without a shred of remorse." 

There was a moment of silence. Wesley looked at Kate as though for the first time. And he saw not a tough, cynical detective she'd always been before, but someone who was tired of all the pain, of the struggle against evil. 

"Sometimes when I'm interviewing someone I know is guilty, I look into their eyes and think .. 'How could you do this? How can you rape and mutilate and kill. You can't be human.' Well, maybe some of them aren't." 

"I know it's hard to comprehend..." Wesley moved his hand towards Kate's, but she pulled away. 

"No, I understand just fine. What I don't understand is why Angel couldn't be bothered to tell me any of this himself." 

Wesley really didn't know what to say for the best. So he downed the rest of his coffee and waited. 

And waited. Eventually, after what seemed like an eternity, Kate spoke again. 

"So, where do you come in?" 

"It's a long story." 

Kate took another sip of her coffee. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Ever since there have been vampires, there have been vampire slayers. And then there are people called Watchers."

"Whose job is to watch the slaying?"

"No, our - their - job is twofold. Firstly, we have to guide and train the slayers for their duties. Secondly, we research and monitor demon and vampire activity." 

"If you're a Watcher, what are you doing working for a vampire?" 

"I was a Watcher. Past tense. I was originally sent to Sunnydale to be the Watcher for Buffy, and for Faith." 

Kate stubbed out her cigarette and glared at Wesley. "Well, I have to say you did a great job of keeping Faith on the straight and narrow." Since Wesley suddenly found some interesting stains on the table top which were worthy of his immediate attention, Kate knew that she'd hit a nerve.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to.. I mean, we all make mistakes." 

"There's really no need to apologise. Thanks to me, Buffy no longer works under the control of the Council of Watchers - who, needless to say, are less than delighted about the situation - and Faith is in prison. The Council and I reached a mutual agreement that I wasn't suited to a career as a Watcher." 

"They fired you." 

"They didn't put it quite like that, but .. yes. I came to LA when Angel had a vacancy for an assistant, and the rest, as they say, is history."

Kate smiled. "That wasn't such a long story after all. Do you want another coffee?" 

"No, it's been a long night and I think I should be going." 

Kate suddenly realised that it was a long time since she'd had a candid conversation with a man who didn't have some kind of hidden agenda. And she wanted to carry on talking to Wesley. She thought she should make some kind of gesture. 

"Wesley .. thank you." 

"For what?" He looked genuinely surprised. 

"For taking the time to explain all about the watcher thing and the slayer thing and the good vampire thing. It'll probably take me some time to get used to the whole thing…" 

"Some people never do. I daresay that I would have had some difficulty with the concept if the whole concept if hadn't been impressed upon me from an early age." 

"It must have been scary for a kid, knowing that all the stories about monsters under the bed were true." 

"There were never any monsters under my bed. Elsewhere in the house, maybe." 

Kate knew she should let it slide, but instead she found herself asking "Someone in your family used to.. hurt you?" 

Wesley said the words "My father" so quietly that it took a moment to for Kate to respond. She took Wesley's hands and looked deep into his eyes. 

"It's okay. I've heard and seen this kind of thing often enough, but it never gets any easier. It's like losing someone close - it never stops hurting, you just learn to live with it." 

"I don't know if I have learned to live with it. Mostly I've tried to forget about it, but sometimes - do you remember that boy who was possessed by a demon? - sometimes it all comes back and it hurts so badly that I can't …" 

"I know. I know what it's like to wake up in the morning and look in the mirror and feel that you're nothing. I'm some kind of expert at that."

For a moment, neither of them could believe that they'd just revealed so much. After taking a few deep breaths, Wesley found himself taking hold of Kate's hands. 

"Kate, you're not nothing. You're a good person, believe me." 

"Am I?"

"You've taken the time to listen to me tonight" 

"Thanks" 

Kate smiled and Wesley realised that he'd never seen her looking happy before. She continued "Would you like to .. go for another cup of coffee?" 

"Is this place closing?" 

"No, I meant .. back to my place." 

"Oh. Yes. That would be .. nice." 

  
  


***************************************

Neither of them said anything on the car journey back to Kate's apartment. To break the silence, Kate decided to play a CD. Let the music do the talking, she thought. 

  
  


I want to sit and talk and laugh with you as the day ends...

  
  


I'm someone's daughter and you're somebody's son

Can I ease your pain till the morning comes? 

  
  


Kate stopped the car. The music carried on, and she and Wesley stared at each other for a while. Both of them felt they should say something, but neither of them could find the words. Then the music stopped. Kate got out of the car and led the way up to her apartment. She opened the door and Wesley hesitated for a moment. 

"Just coffee?" 

Kate laughed. "Just coffee." 

As she entered her apartment, she suddenly realised that it didn't really look like a home. Considering that she usually only used it as a place to sleep and wash, this wasn't surprising. In fact, there were still a few boxes around from when she'd moved in. She felt she should try some kind of explanation. 

"Sorry, I'm not much of a homemaker." 

It was Wesley's turn to smile. "Oh, you should see my place." 

Kate headed towards the kitchen "You still want another coffee, because I..." 

She turned around and found, to her surprise, that Wesley had followed her. For a moment, they stared deep into each other's eyes and then he spoke: 

"No, I want .. this." 

Kate expected him to paw her or try to force himself on her in some other way, but instead he was touching her cheek, and then he stroked her hair. She was so surprised that she didn't resist, and after a few moments, she reached for his face and removed his glasses as she said "I always thought you'd have nice eyes. And you do." 

Wesley almost pulled away, but Kate pulled him closer. She laid her head on his shoulder and murmured "Do you ever want .. someone to hold you?" He nodded, and pulled her closer. 

Slowly, Kate began to cry. She tried to hold back the sobs, but it was no use. She moved away from him from a moment, and saw the doubt in his face. Christ, she thought. He has even less self-esteem than I do. 

"It's not .. you. It's just that.. it's been a long time since I've been alone with a man who hasn't tried to .. to grab me. To use me. I've been used so many times, and sometimes it just gets too much, okay?" Wesley responded by pulling her close to him again "If it makes you feel any better, I've only been alone with a woman like this once before. And that was an unmitigated disaster, let me tell you. I think we should just forget our previous love lives, or lack of them, don't you?" 

Kate nodded and attempted a smile. She sat down on her sofa, and Wesley sat by her. He touched her cheek again, trying to wipe away the path of her tears. He said softly: "Kate, I might not be very good at that Californian thing of talking about your emotions, but I hope I'm a good listener." 

How wrong can you be about a person, Kate thought. My first impression of this guy was that he was so repressed he didn't have any emotions at all and now he's sitting next to me offering to listen to the story of my life. She tentatively placed her hand on his thigh. 

"It's okay. I think I've done enough talking for tonight." She stood up and moved towards the bedroom. 

"I have to be on early tomorrow. I should be getting to bed." She saw Wesley heading towards the door and couldn't help but smile. "I'd like you to stay. If that's okay with you, of course." 

Wesley's face broke into something that Kate could only describe as a broad grin as he said "It's more than ... okay."

Kate knew that he'd be a total gentleman. She didn't have to ask him to wait outside while she was changing. He was so hesitant that she wondered whether to give him a list of instructions on how to undress. 

She got into the bed first, and he hesitated briefly before joining her. When he did, she kissed him, and he responded. Both of them were almost overwhelmed with relief that they'd found someone to hold. Someone who understood the loneliness, and the pain. 

And then she took him in her arms, and they simply held each other.

They were still holding onto each other when the morning came. 

  
  


*~* The End *~* 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


  
  
  
  



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